Maltese

Attested across 11 languages in the etymology graph.

Maltese is one spelling over 4 language communities, and the dictionaries record it differently in 2 of them. Each row is what a source recorded for that language, beside the share of this name’s records the language holds. No single row is the name’s meaning.

• English60%

  lang., Malta

  as a name·Pronouncing Dictionary of Proper Names

  Of or pertaining to Malta or its language.

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• Spanish10%

  No dictionary in our sources glosses Maltese in Spanish.

• Italian9.7%

  habitante de Malta, com sufixo singular -ese

  as a name·Dicionário dos sobrenomes italianos

• French9.6%

  No dictionary in our sources glosses Maltese in French.

The share is ours — how much of this name’s records each language holds. The sense beside it is the source’s, quoted and credited, including where it names a gender. We do not publish a gender of our own per language: our records carry one figure for the spelling as a whole.

Maltese is also recorded as 2 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Spanish surname3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Argentina, United States, Peru, Venezuela

  Languages: Spanish, Portuguese

  Also written Maltése

• French surname4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in France, United States, Italy, Belgium

  Also written Maltèse, Maltése

39 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Maltese is also recorded in 3 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• Italian; ethnic name for someone from the island of Malta.

  as a name·Dictionary of American Family Names

• In Afrikaans, attributive form of Maltees

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In German, person from Malta; Maltese

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

• Francesco Nolettib. 1611MTnot in their usual nameMaltese painter (c.1610-1654)
• Michael Malteseb. 1908USAmerican screenwriter and actor (1908–1981)
• Corrado Malteseb. 1921ITItalian art historian and teacher (1921-2001)
• Diego Malteseb. 1928ITItalian librarian and library scientist (born 1928)
• Serphin Malteseb. 1932USAmerican politician
• Jean Malteseb. 1938FRFrench journalist
• Curzio Malteseb. 1959ITItalian journalist, writer and politician (1959–2023)
• Dario Malteseb. 1992ITItalian association football player
• Matt Malteseb. 1997GBBritish-Canadian singer-songwriter
• Leonardo Malteseb. 1997ITItalian film and stage actor

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.

Where does the name Maltese come from?

Italian; ethnic name for someone from the island of Malta. Recorded by Dictionary of American Family Names.

How do you pronounce Maltese?

It depends on the language: in Spanish /maltese/; in Italian /maltese/. Transcriptions are machine-generated except where a dictionary is named.

What does the name Maltese mean?

In English, Of or pertaining to Malta or its language.

In which country does Maltese have the most bearers?

Mondonomo estimates about 7.4 thousand people named Maltese in Italy, more than in any other country we hold, where it is most often spelled maltese.

How common is the name Maltese?

In the United States, the national register counted 1,887 people named Maltese in 2010, about 1 in 176 thousand residents.